Thursday, August 7, 2014

EL PASO — TO hear the national news media tell the story, you would think my city, El Paso, and others along the Texas-Mexico border were being overrun by children — tens of thousands of them, some with their mothers, arriving from Central America in recent months, exploiting an immigration loophole to avoid deportation and putting a fatal strain on border state resources.

There’s no denying the impact of this latest immigration wave or the need for more resources. But there’s no crisis. Local communities like mine have done an amazing job of assisting these migrants.

Rather, the myth of a “crisis” is being used by politicians to justify ever-tighter restrictions on immigration, play to anti-immigrant voters in the fall elections and ignore the reasons so many children are coming here in the first place.[...]

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

After touring a New Mexico detention facility housing Central American refugees, immigrant advocates and lawyers have charged the Obama Administration with violating due process rights.

In a July 24 telephonic press conference hosted by the National Immigration Law Center, representatives of an advocates’ group that were allowed to conduct a short visit July 22 of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLTEC) in Artesia, New Mexico, where hundreds of Central American women and children are being held, detailed a laundry list of grievances.

In comments to reporters, advocates said women and children were held in crowded conditions; not adequately informed of their due process rights or given timely access to legal counsel, as per U.S. refugee law; hustled through deportation proceedings; and forced to read complex forms in English. Additionally, serious concerns were raised about the physical and emotional health of children and their mothers. [...]

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

At age 10, Katherine Rodríguez had already lived the odyssey of her life. For two weeks, she and her mother had to travel across three countries by land, from the time they left her home in Choluteca, Honduras, until they got to New York City. Now, the girl hopes that authorities will approve the adoption process and that her mother can stay as a refugee so that they can make the Big Apple their new home.

Katherine does not talk much but listens carefully when Ana Rosa Martinez, 41, describes the journey that she and her daughter made. The girl smiles when she says she wanted to come because people told her New York was “very nice” and nods when her mother says she risked traveling with Katherine so her daughter could have a better future and go to school.[...]

Monday, August 4, 2014

Decades of short-sighted, inhumane U.S. policies have brought a child refugee crisis to America's door.

By Laura Carlsen, Foreign Policy in FocusJuly 18, 2014

After three years of relative silence, the U.S. press has finally “discovered” the crisis of tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors piling up on the U.S. border. Although the coverage often began with moving stories of the hardships these young migrants faced, it soon turned ugly. For right-wing pundits and politicians, the “humanitarian crisis” has become a crackdown on kids.

The dominant narrative has been that foolish parents, perhaps duped by scheming criminal bands, are sending hapless children north to take advantage of loopholes in U.S. immigration practices.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

The 57,000 children from Central America who have streamed across the U.S.-Mexico border this year were driven in large part by the United States itself. While Democrats and Republicans have been pointing fingers at each other, in reality the current wave of migration from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras has its roots in six decades of U.S. policies carried out by members of both parties.

Since the 1950s, the U.S. has sown violence and instability in Central America. Decades of Cold War gamesmanship, together with the relentless global war on drugs, have left a legacy of chaos and brutality in these countries. In many parts of the region, civil society has given way to lawlessness. It's these conditions the children are escaping.[...]

As we look to the east, nearly 300 people were killed when the Malaysian airliner was shot down. President Obama demanded that there be an investigation and strongly suggested that President Putin of Russia was responsible. “Russia trained the separatists. Russia armed them.” President Obama said, “There must be accountability.”

President Putin evidently thinks that the Ukraine is “in the Russian backyard” and he can do what he wants there.

Now, look to the south for a moment. We know that thousands of Honduran children are being held in detention at the border, children who came north because of the poverty and violence in their home country. Who is accountable for what has happened to them?

About The Politics of Immigration

The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers is a book that goes beyond soundbites to tackle concerns about immigration in straightforward language and an accessible question-and-answer format. For immigrants and supporters, the book is a useful tool to confront stereotypes and disinformation. For those who are undecided about immigration, it lays out the facts and clear reasoning they need to develop an informed opinion. Ideal for classroom use, the updated and expanded 2017 edition provides a succinct overview of U.S. immigration history, policy, and practice, with detailed notes guiding readers toward further exploration.
Guskin and Wilson have written extensively on immigration and facilitated dozens of dialogues on the topic with students, community activists, congregations, and other public audiences. To arrange a dialogue or for more information, contact them at thepoliticsofimmigration@gmail.com.
To stay in the loop on author events and related resources, follow the book on Twitter (@Immigration_QA) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ImmigrationQA/).